Talk:James O'Brien (broadcaster)

Irish descent?

What is the source for his being of Irish descent? His surname is Irish but that's his adoptive father's surname. --78.17.195.230 (talk) 11:24, 29 June 2024 (UTC)

@78.17.195.230 He has stated on his LBC show that his mother was Irish but gave birth to him in England. Willemslie (talk) 05:55, 17 August 2024 (UTC)

Untitled

James is indeed a well-known presenter on LBC 97.3 FM and has been on there for many years now. Check [1] for his official bio - many LBC presenters have pages on here and are considered notable enough for their range of journalistic activity.

There was a long previous article deleted bcause of alleged plagiarism from the LBC website. I suspect there is some organsed sabotage of this entry.--Westminsterboy 13:24, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

Can you please direct me to the precedent that landing a job presenting in one radio station is sufficient to deserve an article? How about being a chemist in a known research lab -- is that sufficient, too? --Perfecto 14:04, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

I do think it merits an article as he is a major radio presenter on a major radio station and much more minor people have articles you (personal attack deleted) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.219.191.135 (talk • contribs) 12:45, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

The precedent, perhaps, should dictate that someone who contributes to all known forms of media, in his home country and beyond, is more likely to be of some interest to users of services such as this than a chemist. Ironically, O'Brien is often vocal on the subject of the media affording far too much import to its own members than interesting people outside the profession so would probably agree with the contention that he shouldn't be on here! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mooncalf (talk • contribs) 12:46, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Why are all LBC radio presenters articles full of bullshit?

== Since when did Wikipedia become a space for media types to post their CVs...?

It's not, and this article isn't. Ride the Hurricane (talk) 20:50, 27 January 2018 (UTC)

NPOV

This article is rife with unsubstantiated points of view. The points of view may be accurate for all I know but are too strongly voiced to be consistent with an encyclopedia article and are not referenced.Rrsmac (talk) 10:47, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

James uses Wikipedia as his CV, and this is inappropriate use of the site. Either that, or his mum wrote the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.132.106.216 (talk) 21:06, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

{{editsemiprotected}}

Please remove the following POV statements. I've made more balanced suggestions for cases where removing the text altogether would result in the article not making sense:

"His often controversial opinions are now regularly sought by broadcasters including Sky, NBC, ABC Australia, the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. " Should be removed in the absense of sources from ANY of the above that don't relate to events before 22nd April 2009.

"He was catapulted to international notoriety in April 2009" Perhaps "He made headlines in April 2009". I doubt he's suddenly become notorious in France, Italy, Spain, Germany or South America.

There is no source to suggest he called Lampard "scum", for BLP reasons that should certainly be removed immediately.

political motivations

I have added details of his political leanings which I believe puts his rants into context.Twobells (talk) 11:13, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

And I have removed your unsourced speculation. Please provide reliable sources for all of your additions, especially relating to personal attributes of living people. The JPS^{talk to me} 11:33, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

re-added, O'brien is quite open about it on air and to attempt to spin edit is really unbecoming...see: http://www.lbc.co.uk/james-obrien-3537. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=36346905 Twobells (talk) 12:02, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

Forums are not reliable sources, and exactly where on the LBC page is your source? At the moment, this is a clear BLP violation, and I might be forced to take preventative measures. The JPS^{talk to me} 12:07, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

re-added, O'brien is quite open about it on air and to attempt to spin edit is really unbecoming...see: http://www.lbc.co.uk/james-obrien-3537. http://lboro.ac.uk/departments/ss/staff/staff_pubs/wring_docs/12.doc. Sorry I pasted the wrong link, here is the correct link. The LBC link is to listen LIVE, O'Brien makes no bones about his political leanings.Twobells (talk) 12:09, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

'Listen live' is inadequate. We need a published, reliable source that editors can use to verify your assertion. Which quotation from the book reproduction supports your assertion? I can only see one reference to O'Brien. The JPS^{talk to me} 12:22, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

Chapter 5 Tony Press Media coverage 'television & radio'.Twobells (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 12:03, 25 November 2009 (UTC).

TwoBells, we need it to be more specific, as I asked of you here. The only reference to James O'Brien in that book is a sentence on page 89 that says "Fronted by a married couple, Lucy and James O'Brien, the consumer affairs style of format enabled the presenters and members of the public to discuss issues and express their opinions." Which direct quotation verifies the assertion you wish to add? On which page does it appear? We only include detail if we can verify it without having to synthesise (reach our own conclusions) the work. The wording of your attempt today is going in the correct direction; unfortunately, I cannot find evidence within the reference substantiate this. The JPS^{talk to me} 18:10, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

Could you point me in the direction of the rule that says that a works in its entirety has to appear somewhere on the internet? The best I could do is scan the relevant pages and host them.Twobells (talk) 23:31, 25 November 2009 (UTC) Also, at this point for the record I would like to ask you if you personally know O'brien or communicated with him in any way?Twobells (talk) 23:36, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

References don't have to be online of course, but requesting that you provide the page you're referring to or provide a quote from the material for those who do not have access to it, isn't unreasonable. Shell ^babelfish 23:39, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

Twobells, I have absolutely no affiliation with Mr O'Brien whatsoever, or any political party (unlike The Telegraph). Every action, and every suggestion to you is purely motivated by Wikipedia's policy on biographies of living people. Also, I have not edited this article to such a significant level to compromise my administorial independence.
I'm unsure how I gave the impression that references have to be online. Of course they don't! In the case of the book you are using, we need a specific source so that someone could go into a bookshop oor good library and verify the information. A search for "O'Brien" on that book on GoogleBooks only gives the quotation I provided above. The JPS^{talk to me} 00:55, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

Reading the above it's clear that this has been a contentious issue in the past. Nonetheless, when I visited the page I was surprised to see no 'politics' subheading. It's regularly included for footballers, actors etc who have voiced strong political opinions, so to see nothing on this page sticks out like a sore thumb. If someone could write a neutral POV well referenced section it would improve the piece immeasurably. I'll put it on my to do list, but in truth I have so many offline priorities at the moment it's unlikely I'll get around to it. Ride the Hurricane (talk) 12:31, 5 December 2017 (UTC)

I have fleshed the article out a bit, putting in facts where possible and attributing opinions where not. However, WP:BLP means we have to have good sources for any criticism. I can find plenty of comments on YouTube and Twitter throwing mud pies at O'Brien easily enough, and in my view from listening to his show, I find he has a tendency to excessively interrupt and chastise people he disagrees with - but unless it's in a reliable source, it can't go in. It would be nice to get sources that aren't The Guardian and The Independent, so I had a look in the Daily Telegraph which is generally considered good enough for BLP and not obviously aligning with O'Brien's political views - but there wasn't much. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 17:07, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

Hello Internet material

This article has become involved in a long-running campaign to add Hello Internet inside jokes to Wikipedia articles. Please do not add the Brady Haran information again unless there is an independent reliable secondary source to demonstrate its relevance to the article. —Granger (talk · contribs) 19:42, 30 July 2017 (UTC)

Radio Times podcast championship

I see a revert of a good-faith IP edit here with reference to "see talk page", but can't see anything relevant here. (I don't know what "Hello Internet" is, but the Radio Times is generally considered a reliable source as far as I'm aware). What's the issue, exactly? Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 15:57, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

As I said in the previous section, the Brady Haran material is part of a long-term campaign to add Hello Internet inside jokes to Wikipedia. There is no indication of the significance of this contest, which has virtually no reliable secondary sources talking about it. Please don't re-add it unless there is an independent reliable secondary source to demonstrate its relevance to the article. —Granger (talk · contribs) 11:09, 2 December 2017 (UTC)

Youtube channel

The link to Youtube channel points to channel "I Am Incorrigible", which I don't think is James O'Brien's channel. If you watch the JOB videos on that channel, you'll see a video of live tweets of @mrjamesob and @LBC during the show. Occasionally IAI tweets. It would be very difficult to live tweet using a different name while talking on the show. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.248.218.89 (talk) 13:26, 8 March 2019 (UTC)

Anatomy

I reverted an edit earlier that looked like vandalism referring to a statement James O Brien made about having a third nipple on Mystery hour 19 September. I have now listened to the piece and realise that this was a good faith edit and not a deliberate misinterpretation of something he had said. He does indeed state this fact about himself. However, I would continue to challenge the inclusion of the information on grounds of notability. There are doubtless many facts one can state about the man that would be true, but would not be notable for an encyclopaedia article. Nevertheless I raise the issue here in case anyone wishes to argue that it is indeed notable. Sirfurboy (talk) 21:23, 19 September 2019 (UTC)

Vandalism

Does this article need protecting, given the amount of vandalism it's attracting from Brexit supporting IP users? MFlet1 (talk) 13:56, 12 May 2020 (UTC)

O'Brien Image

Who in the world believes that image is at all suitable to a wikipedia article? I expect to see unfortunate photos like the one on this page in tabloids and slandering blogs, but honestly that's just inexcusable. If anyone has any reason to keep this abhorrent photo, please share, otherwise I'll replace it with a better one at some point. — Preceding unsigned comment added by NexusNarr (talk • contribs) 11:20, 13 February 2021 (UTC)

What's wrong with it? H Remster (talk) 22:48, 14 February 2021 (UTC)

I agree, it's totally inappropriate for a journalist. I am sure there are better images of him out thersupersonic-bionic (talk) 16:54, 24 October 2022 (UTC)e.

Birthplace

Where was he born? And if he was adopted at the age of 28 days, presumably his registered birth name was something else? 205.239.40.3 (talk) 13:29, 31 October 2022 (UTC)

If he has a different birthname, I don't think we should give it per MOS:CHANGEDNAME see note e. There is likely to be a privacy interest in not disclosing this, and unless it is given in published sources (e.g. in a biography) it is not sufficiently relevant and he is not sufficiently notable that we should give that name. Sirfurboy🏄 (talk) 14:09, 31 October 2022 (UTC)

I agree. I'm just wondering how anyone is able to state "the birth register actually says he was born in Hackney". 205.239.40.3 (talk) 14:22, 31 October 2022 (UTC)

I see this Tweet from O'Brien says: "Dad was on the Doncaster Evening News when I was born." So Doncaster as his place of birth seems very likely? 205.239.40.3 (talk) 11:54, 2 November 2022 (UTC)

But not confirmed, so it can't go in the article, sorry. It needs to be verifiable. Sirfurboy🏄 (talk) 14:54, 2 November 2022 (UTC)

I quite agree. I did not suggest that Doncaster should yet be added as place of birth. But if there is "audio of him giving his birthplace as both Doncaster and Derby" it might be useful to know where and what that was. Thanks. 205.239.40.3 (talk) 15:03, 2 November 2022 (UTC)